Learning Disability Awareness.

Kiran came up with this idea to dedicate the month of March to the awareness of Learning Disabilities in Children. Many bloggers have contributed valuable information and tips on this subject. Check them out.

Tharini on Types of Learning Disabilities.

Lak writes about the self esteem of a child with learning disabilities.

Kiran - How Parents can work with their child.

GnD on Treating/managing the disability.

Cee Kay on ADHD.

Cee Kay on Being an advocate for your child.

Sue talks about her brother - Examining Disability.

Priya talks about her daughter - "We Have Come Such A Long Way"

Will update the post as and when more posts come up. Please leave a link in the comment section if you have any information or experience to share on this subject. Thanks.

Food Allergy Awareness.

Tharini of Winkies Ways has started a Food Allergy Awareness Month. She has kick started the posts with her first post here and Sujatha of blogpourri has shared a wonderful and informative post in her blog. Theres more to come from Tharini and quite a few other bloggers as well. Also, check out Tharinis post on the difference between Food Allergy and Food Intolerance.

If you have done a post on Childhood Allergies in your blog in the past , please pass on the link in the comment space. Or if you have any information to share, please do a post and leave the link here. I ll be doing a final round up of all related posts in the month end, so come back. Lets all come together for this good cause and spread the awareness. Thanks in advance.

NO - Possibly the most used word by a parent.

Never say No? - An interesting post by Cee Kay on how to say "No" with a postive attitude to kids and why "No" should nt be over used.

Yes, we'll buy that toy some other time.
No, we can't buy that toy right
now.

Yes, you can have potato chips as soon as you finish this cucumber.
No
you cannot have potato chips. you have to finish this cucumber first.

Yes, we will go to the park as soon as you finish your dinner.
No, we
aren't going to the park until you finish your dinner.

Yes, I'll give you candy after you finish your lunch.
No, you cannot
have candy. Finish your lunch first!

And more recently -
Yes, we will think about getting you a laptop
when you are a little older.
No, you cannot get a laptop until you are a
little older.

And,
Yes, an iPod sounds fun, but we'll think about it.
You can't
have an iPod for Christmas. We'll have to think about it first.

Child Swapping.

When this piece of news came in the Parent Center Newsletter today in my mail box, my stomach just flipped.

RIYADH (Reuters) - Two boys, one Saudi and one Turkish, will swap homes four years after a hospital gave them to the wrong parents, a Saudi newspaper said Wednesday.

"Mistakes are always possible, but we will try to find who was responsible and hold them to account so it doesn't happen again," Prince Mishaal bin Saud, governor of Najran in the far south of the kingdom, said in comments in al-Watan newspaper.

Saudi health authorities had been reluctant to accept the Turkish father's claim that his son Yacoub was not his, but DNA tests carried out this week proved him right.
Published pictures show a distinctly Saudi-looking Yacoub.

The father of the other child, Saudi national Mohammed al-Monjem, had no inkling that pale-skinned Ali was not his. He will press a 50 million riyal ($13 million) compensation claim against the health ministry, al-Watan said.

Courtesy: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071107/od_nm/boys_swap_dc

Of course I had to drag Hd and put him in this situation and ask what he would do. He of course knew he was getting into trouble and said that he saw Ashu coming out of me and hence he ll never be in this situation technically! Men! Anyway, after much prodding he said he ll swap if that's what the other parents want! WHAT? Who cares what anyone wants? What do you want, Dude? You mean you will just give up Ashu just because shes not biologically yours? Now he knew for sure he was in trouble and said he had no choice and turned the table and asked what I would do. Hah, that's easy! I ll take Ashu and disappear from the face of the Earth! Why would I give her up? So he tried to make me feel guilty about abandoning my biological child. But then, its all Math, is nt it? 9 months in my tummy Vs 2 1/2 years of being together every single day and seeing the child blossom. Tough but then that's what came to my mind instantly.

What would you do?

Multilingual Children.

Lakshmi ponders about raising a child in a multilingual environment. This is her interesting background:

1. My mother tongue : Tamil 2. LG's dad's (The Seniol) mother tongue : Bengali 3. LG's dad speaks with his dad in : Punjabi (as he grew up in Punjab) 4. I talk with LG's dad in : English and Hindi 5. Language of the environment : Marathi (we live in Pune)

Tricky indeed!

A Play Date Problem.

An Indian Mommy is facing a dilemma. This is how she explains it:

"A friend of mine keeps calling my kids over for a play date with her kids.They're all the same age. For some reason, my children don't want to go to her house. They haven't said why, but they are most reluctant. I suspect it's because the parents yell at their children a lot, and that scares my kids.I don't know how to say no to this woman. I usually don't reciprocate by calling her kids over, but she doesn't seem to get the hint. In fact, she'll call and invite her kids over. I have run out of excuses now. I can't tell her what the problem is to her face - Indians simply don't do that."

She also adds that her kids have no problem if her friends children come to their place. They just don't want to go to her friends house.

Any suggestions?

Diaper Dilemma.

Itching to Write compares Cloth diapers and Disposable diapers in a very informative post.

As parents it is left to us to decide what we wish to use without feeling guilty either way as the impact of both on environment, wallet, convenience, comfort in total is more or less the same. Depends on what is the key to one as parents, is it comfort, convenience, cost, water or landfill.

Lesson learnt: Potty trained children are good for the environment! Are you kids listening? ;)

Is child rearing boring?

Gauri asks,

Boring ??? Humdrum ??? Lackluster ??? – Are these sentiments that one would normally associate with bringing up a child ?

Virginia Tech Shooting.

The world looks a lot less safe after becoming a parent, does nt it? We start reacting to terrible events like these as a parent and personally, it scares the hell out of me. God bless the victims and their familes.

Sundar, Orchid, Fuzzy, SS and the Desimomzclub share their fears.

Left Vs Right.

Left or right – which is right? Manchus asks the right(!) question!

There should not be a stigma attached to the left handedness. I remember my brother used to use his left hand more than his right hand and my parents corrected him and changed him to a right-handed person. And then when he was old enough, they used to complain how bad his handwriting was. Hellooo!! You were the one who changed him. I am sure he would have had a better handwriting, had he been a leftie.

That said, the World is definitely easier for Righties than Lefties. Very unfair.

Thumb sucking.

Poppin wonders why there are nt that many posts on thumb sucking at the Mom blogs. Do you have some tips?

My mom says that I should use bitter tasting juice or mittens but I'm loathe to try it. It feels wrong somehow, besides it may not work anyways. I am seriously at a loss on what to do for this one.

Sleepless in Babyville.

A round up of some of the posts on the Sleeping issue.

Rohinis very informative post is here.

Mad Mommas emotional post is here.

Mine is here.

Desimomzclub has two posts here and here.

ps.
Do leave a link in the comment if you have done a post on the same subject.

To have or not to have...

Below is the mail I got from a reader. Since Im also sailing in the same boat, it would be great to hear your thoughts on this issue. Is a family incomplete without a second child?

It seems like everyone of our friends is pregnant again. After a difficult pregnancy and first year, we have decided not to have another child. Most of the time I am fine with this decision, but every now and then, it feels strange and scary. I find myself revisiting the decision every few weeks and tormenting myself over whether it is the right thing or not. I feel guilty that I may be depriving my son of a sibling and then I wonder whether that is the right motivation for another child. Should I have another one only because I am afraid that this one will be lonely ?

As Indians, we live in a society where 2 kids is the norm. It is something everyone takes for granted. It is really difficult being the exception rather than the norm. I am working on coming to terms with this tough decision and was hoping to hear some words of wisdom from parents with one child who have found peace with their decision, instead of regrets.

I would really appreciate it if you could address this issue in indianmommies.blogspot.com

Sahithis Mom has written a post on the same dilemma here. Seems like yesterday when I was going through the same dilemma for the first one. It never ends, does it?